This invention relates generally to folding wings for missiles and particularly to an improved tool for folding wings on the PENGUIN Airborne Guided Missile.
The PENGUIN Missile was developed for use on the Seahawk Helicopter of the LAMPS III program. Folded wings are installed on the missile after the missile is attached to the helicopter. The wings must be folded due to the space limitations under the helicopter.
The missile's wings contain a wing deployment mechanism which locks the wings in their upright position by using powerful torsion springs. The wing deployment mechanism must be unlocked in order to fold the wings. The wing folding process must be done quickly to provide an adequate response time while in combat. Wing folding requires the continuous application of approximately sixty pounds of lateral force to the wing's outer edge to lock the wing into its folded position.
The previous method for folding the wings involved the use of an unlocking bolt. The unlocking bolt was screwed into a threaded hole in the wing approximately 3/4 of an inch until the bolt forced the wing hinge open. The outer edge of the wing was then grabbed by personnel and pulled down until the wing locked into its folded position. The unlocking bolt then had to be unscrewed from the threaded hole in the wing before the wing could be attached to the missile. This procedure posed many problems The screwing of the unlocking bolt was slow and wasted valuable time. Frequent insertion of the bolt into the threaded hole wore down the threads in the hole, thus requiring frequent replacement of the threaded insert. If the wing slipped from the person's grasp during the folding process, the force of the wing hinge on the unlocking bolt could force the unlocking bolt out of the threaded hole, causing the threads to rip and possibly injuring anyone standing in front of the unlocking bolt. Finally, since no means of attaching the unlocking bolt to the mounting bar was available, the tool was frequently lost or misplaced.
The unlocking bolt also could not be used to perform the wing spreading (unfolding) operation. A lanyard release assembly, located on the trailing edge of the wing, locked the wing in its folded position. To unfold the wing, a release link had to be removed from the lanyard release assembly. This was done by attaching a piece of string to the release link and pulling upward until the release link popped off the lanyard release assembly.